I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Amnesia
Cassius groaned, holding a hand to his head and pushing himself up into a seated position, looking around. He was in a desert, it was sunrise, and his head felt like he'd just gotten done going ten rounds with the usual trio of Shadows. That, or Deathstroke had drugged him again in order to test him. He sighed heavily, pushing himself to his feet.
"Alright Deathstroke," Cassius grumbled. "Where the fuck am I this time? What's the test this time, get home alive? Survive an ambush? Wait, did he drug me and send me on a job?" He felt himself,, concentrating to search inside of himself for a target profile folder, but there was nothing. "Nope. No folder. Thanks to whatever drug he gave me, I can't even remember what I was doing last." He looked around again. "Dammit, Deathstroke. What the fuck?"
He sighed, picking a direction and starting to walk, the sun slowly inching it way up from the horizon. The heat began to climb rapidly and he grit his teeth, wiping his forehead as he began to sweat.
"Seriously Deathstroke," Cassius grumbled. "Of all the fucking places to drug me and drop me off, you just happened to pick the desert, huh? Couldn't go with some tropical deserted island? Would it have killed you to at least leave me some FUCKING WATER! ? !"
He kicked a rock in the sand with goo encasing his leg, sending it streaking away. He raised a hand to his ear, but he had no communicator. He sighed. Of course he had no way of contacting the Shadows for an extract. What kind of test would that be? He sighed, stopping in the shade of a rock spire to rest after hours of walking and try and think. What had his last mission been? The banker? No. Not the politician. He didn't think it was joke mission to steal twelve kilos of cocaine just to prove to a drunken Deathstroke that he could. He grimaced at the memory of his hangover the next day. He was definitely not drinking with Deathstroke again. It was so weird to see him be anything other than a cold, ruthless asshole. It also made the plan to kill him along with Cain and Lady Shiva a touch less satisfying. Though only a little. He remembered that he was supposed to train Cassandra from time to time. How had that been going? What was the last thing he taught her?
A whistling disturbed his thoughts and he opened his eye, then instantly used his goo to all but catapult himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the explosion of a tank round. He flipped, landing on his feet and narrowed his eyes at the three approaching tanks, fifty-odd troops, and one Humvee with a mounted fifty caliber heavy machinegun. Not nearly enough. Of course, the fact that they knew where he was was a bit disconcerting. He was usually better at going undetected than that. He huffed, formed his entire body into goo and exploded forward as the guns all began to fire. He leapt into the air, the concussion of another shot from one of the tanks' main guns going off hurling him into the air.
"Thanks asshole!" Cassius grinned. "Game, set, match!"
He swung his hands downward, sending out a massive cloud of goo spikes. The soldiers shouted and screamed in fear and dismay as the spikes rained down around them, stabbing through the tanks effortlessly and slaughtering troops. He left one alive and pulled the goo spikes around and in the tanks back to himself less than a second after they hit, sparing his goo from the tanks exploding a moment later, hurling his one survivor. Then, he crashed down in front of them and picked them up by the throat, forming his previously faceless goo face into a pair of slit, inward angled eyes and a mouth full of jagged, pointed teeth, getting exactly the terrified reaction he's hoped for.
"You're going to answer my questions," he snarled. "If you do, I'll let you go."
The man begged for his life in Bialyan, so Cassius repeated his offer in the same language.
"Yes!" the man said, nodding vigorously. "Yes, of course! Anything!"
"Where are we?" Cassius asked.
"South East Bialya!" the man said.
"What's the date?" Cassius asked.
"September fourth, two thousand ten!" the man said.
"Don't lie to me!" Cassius snapped. "It's still March!"
The man shouted in fear, recoiling as much as he could. "No! No! It's September! I swear!"
Cassius narrowed his eyes before humming thoughtfully. "September, huh? I believe you. Alright. Last question. How did you all know how to find me? And why did you attack me?"
"We were ordered to find the seven that invaded and kill them!" he said.
"Seven?" Cassius asked. "There were seven of us? And we were compromised?"
"Yes!" the man said.
"Who were they?" Cassius asked.
"I don't know! I swear!"
Cassius sighed. "I believe you." He released the man. "Run."
The man turned to run, but after five steps, Cassius put a goo spike through his head before retracting it, transforming it back into his left arm as he shifted himself back to normal in a sand-colored tee-shirt and pants, and a sand-colored shemagh wrapped around his head. He walked along the vehicles' tire tracks for a couple hours, but after a bit, they had disappeared as the sand was blown around. He sighed, once again picking a direction and beginning to walk. After a few more hours, and several more thinking and resting breaks, all of which did nothing, he heard an explosion off to one side and turned, jogging that way. After a few minutes, he reached the top of a large sand dune and stopped, watching as a shirtless, apparently indestructible, boy of roughly sixteen ripped apart a pair of tanks with his bare hands, his skin deflecting machine gun bullets easily.
"Kryptonian," Cassius mused. "I think I'll stay away from you. I have a strict no unnecessary dismemberment policy. Plus, you're all savage rage and instinct right now, by the look of you." he paused, humming thoughtfully. "I wonder. Do you have any memories at all?"
He shook his head, looking around. The Kryptonian wasn't his problem. At least, not right now. First, he had to find a way to remember the last six months of time he'd lost. Deathstroke would have his head if he was actually on a job and fucked up. Not to mention the rest of the Shadows. He walked until he found a small cave made by several rock formations leaning against one another and walked inside, sitting in the back of the cave and closed his eyes. The sun was setting. He'd walked all day and found nothing. He'd remembered nothing. He had no phone, no communicators, and no gear. If he was on a job, he'd at minimum have a way to call for extract, and he'd have an emergency knife in case someone found a way to disable his powers. He had nothing. So, time for emergency measures. He'd have to resort to trying to meditate. Not his favorite thing to do, and not usually very helpful, but if he could manage to remember something, it'd be worth it.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, allowing his mind to wander. He remembered the politician first. Easy job. Not his most recent. He remembered that when he woke up. He remembered one of his numerous sparring sessions with Deathstroke. This one was more memorable as Deathstroke had actually shot him in the pelvic hurdle that time, which was an experience he was not eager to repeat. Still not a missing memory, though. He tried to focus a little harder, working through the timeline of his memories, but it just abruptly faded as he reached March. He frowned, continuing to try and meditate, to force himself to remember anything, for hours. All he got were two things. First was Cassandra. He remembered her hugging him, which she never did, signing that she was happy he was there, which was not something she would normally say, and then smiling widely, her light green eyes shining with appreciation and joy as she ate a chocolate bar, all three of which were things that would never happen. Cain would beat her until she couldn't move for smiling, or for eating a candy bar, and Cassandra was never happy, so her eyes shouldn't have been lit up like that. The second thing to return to him was another girl, one he didn't recognize. She was about Cassandra's age, but had long, snow-white hair to contrast Cassandra's short black hair, fair pale skin, bright blue eyes, and a pleading look on her freshly-bruised face as she asked him to get her away from the Shadows. her black bodysuit with orange shoulders, vambraces, and grieves betrayed her as having a connection to Deathstroke, though he had no idea who she was. However, he was sure that if Deathstroke had a new apprentice, he would absolutely love to know she was trying to convince Cassius to leave the Shadows. He found himself wondering who would kill her, and how, but he decided it would probably end up being Deathstroke shooting her.
Just then, Robin landed in front of the cave. Cassius's eyes widened as Robing grinned.
"I found him!" Robin called out.
Cassius launched himself forward instantly, drilling a punch into Robin's jaw and hurling him, then bolted, not bothering to finish the boy wonder off. If he was calling out to someone, that meant Batman, which likely also mean Superman. He was not repeating that fight. He formed goo around his legs, sprinting across the desert rapidly, only to suddenly rise into the air. He swore. Martian Manhunter.
"It's alright!" a feminine voice said as he turned around, seeing a female Martian with a black bodysuit bearing a red "X" across the torso, a blue cape, and long red hair. "We're not-"
He swung an arm, firing a shot barrage of goo spikes at the Martian. Either Martian Manhunter was a crossdresser suddenly, or she was someone else. Either way, he didn't care. He was leaving before Superman showed up. The Martian gasped harshly, barely managing to stop the goo spikes and Cassius landed on his feet, taking off again, leaving the goo spikes behind. He'd grow the goo back, like he usually did if he had to ditch projectiles. Besides, that few spikes was nothing. However, before he could get far, a black streak shot around in front of him, slamming a punch into his jaw and flipping him backward before Kid Flash skidded to a stop.
"Man you can run fast when you want to," Kid Flash grinned.
Cassius growled in annoyance, forming go claws, only to spin, slashing a bolo that was fired from a green arrow, seeing a blonde teen dressed like a mildly slutty, moderately attractive Green Arrow gender swap cosplay and holding a compound bow. He grit his teeth. Fine. They wanted a fight, they got one. He formed his claws into blades.
"Void, stop!" Robin shouted, skidding down a sand done. "We don't want to fight you! We're trying to help!"
"Help how!?" Cassius demanded.
"We're a team!" Robin said.
Cassius released a bark of laughter. "Now that's funny! As if I'd ever be on a team with the Boy Wonder, the shitty Flash rip-off, and the slutty Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter gender swaps! I'm just fine being a Shadow, thanks. You all can keep your fucking Justice League bullshit!"
"The League of Shadows betrayed you!" Kid Flash said. "They tried to have you cloned and killed!"
"Prove it," Cassius said.
"I will," the Martian said from behind him.
He spun, moving to stab her while preparing to defend himself against mental attacks. Before he could, however, he was suddenly standing on a purple platform, surrounded by a shattered dome, each fragment of glass playing a separate video clip, or, at least, part of it. He looked around, then glared at the Martian.
"What'd you do?" he asked.
"I pulled you into your own mind," she said. "And I'm using telekinesis to hold your body still for the moment."
"You won't be able to read my mind or brainwash me," Cassius said.
"I know," the Martian said. "You've been trained to resist."
"You know your shit," he smirked. "You trying to start a war with the Shadows?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm trying to save my friend."
He narrowed his eyes. "We are not friends! I don't have friends!"
"You do," she said. "You also had a sister, a wife, and two children before."
Cassius's eyes widened. "Wha..."
"Do you remember?" she asked. "Your sister was the girl who found you when you first began to have memories again. It was all pain, until she woke you. You saved her from being raped, but then she died as you were leaving the island together. Your wife and children were the family you killed during your first job. The Shadows sent you after them so that they couldn't tell you who you were later."
Cassius stared at the floor for a moment before swallowing hard and glared at her, his mind conflicted. He looked around, seeing her face in a couple of the broken shards of the dome. "Are these your memories?"
"No," she said. "They're yours."
He was silent for a moment before gritting his teeth. "How are you planning to help me?"
"I'm going to piece your mind and your memories back together," she said. "I'll see everything, but I should be able to help you. And seeing everything was exactly why I left the others outside. I'm the only one whose seen your memories, and I know you don't want the others seeing them."
He was silent for a long few moments as he considered before nodding stiffly. "Okay. Do it."
She nodded and her eyes lit up white before a glowing blue arm reached up from her head, bending down and gripping his own head before light shone behind his eyes. Then, it was all there. The truth of his past, the Shadows' betrayal, his decision to try and save and protect Cassandra and Rose. He remembered hating the other members of the team, being annoyed by them constantly, and then slowly growing to feel out of place around them because of their lack of trust more than his desire to not be there. He remembered fooling the Shadows into thinking he was loyal so that he could keep an eye on Cassandra and Rose, he remembered bringing flowers to his family's graves, and he remembered offering Rose the chance for a better life. Then, he remembered Cassandra's smile, even more clearly than he had on his own, and the desperation in Rose's eyes as she asked him to save her. Then, he was back. he fell to his knees, all of his goo retracting into his body as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Cassandra," he breathed. "Rose. I...Thank you, Megan."
"You're welcome," Megan said, kneeling. "Are you alright? If you need help with...you know...I can."
"No," Cassius said. "I need to do it myself. It's too dangerous for you all to get involved in that. At least, not yet."
Megan nodded.
"Did you find out whatever was in that tent?" he asked, remembering that they had been investigating some form of energy spike and she had gone to investigate a tent controlled by the Bialyans.
"I think that was where I lost my memory," she said. "I can't remember going in."
He nodded, standing. "Where's Aqualad? Superboy we'll need to retrain. I can handle that. Aqualad's probably dying of dehydration right now. We need to find him."
"I've got his location," Robin said. "You were closer, and also a bigger threat than Superboy if not dealt with, so we came to get you."
Cassius nodded, wiping his eyes as more tears fell.
"Whoa, are you...crying?" Kid Flash asked.
"If you knew what I just remembered that I forgot...forget it," Cassius sighed. "Let's go save our leader."
The others all nodded and they turned, heading toward Aqualad's signal. After about thirty minutes, they finally reached the coordinates. As they found him, he was babbling in Atlantean.
"I can't restore his memories in this condition," Megan said.
"He needs immediate rehydration," Kid Flash said. "Call the Bio-Ship."
"It's out of range," Megan said. "But you could get him there fast."
"He's too heavy," Kid Flash said. "And I'm too low on fuel. Right now, I couldn't even carry her." He jabbed a thumb at Artemis, who smacked him.
"We could try pissing on him," Cassius suggested.
"No!" Robin snapped.
"Ew!" Artemis said.
"Why don't you run him to the ship?" Kid Flash asked.
"Because I'm the only one left who can help Megan with Superboy," Cassius said.
"We have to find him soon," Megan said. "Superboy didn't exist six months ago. He has no memories. Just animal instinct. I'm the only one that can help him."
"Superboy's indestructible," Kid Flash said. "Just ask those tanks. Aqualad is dying!"
Just then, Megan gasped, holding her hands to her head. "No! Superboy's in pain! I have to help him!"
"Wait!" Robin shouted as she flew away. "We still don't know what erased our memories! It could happen again!"
Cassius sighed, looking to Aqualad before groaning and forming a goo clone. "This is going to be really bad, I just know it."
"I'll take him to the bio ship," the clone said, picking Aqualad up on his back and sticking him there with goo, forming goo over his legs as well. "Which way?"
"Straight that way," Robin said, pointing.
The clone nodded, taking off at a sprint.
"How long have you been able to form clones?" Robin asked.
"A long time," Cassius said. "I didn't want to showcase that skill to anyone for obvious trust issue reasons. Come on. We need to go after Megan."
The others nodded and they all turned, running in the direction she'd flown. After nearly an hour of travel, they finally found the same tent she'd entered before they lost their memory just in time to see a massive yellow tornado of sand and psychic energy rip the tent apart before exploding and scattering everything, leaving Superboy kneeling in the center and holding Megan, who was currently unconscious.
"Good work team," Cassius said.
"We are pretty good aren't we?" Kid Flash asked.
Just then, a metal sphere rolled over to Superboy and Megan, interrupting what was about to be a kiss, though Kid Flash was too busy asking Artemis why her father would want her to kill him to notice what they'd been about to do.
"Can I keep it?" Superboy asked, Megan smiling.
"I got confused by a movie I watched the other night where a ninja girl's ninja dad wants her to kill her ninja boyfriend," was Artemis's shaky, at best, explanation.
"So, I'm your ninja boyfriend, huh?" Kid Flash smirked.
"Hey!" Artemis snapped. "Amnesia, remember? I couldn't remember how completely insufferable and annoying you are!"
"Get a room, you two," Cassius said.
"Shut up!" both of them snapped, Robin laughing instantly.
After a couple minutes, they returned and began the excruciatingly long trip back to the Bio-Ship, only to find Cassius's clone using his goo to restrain Aqualad.
"He didn't listen when I told him I'm a friend," the clone said.
"Yeah, I kind of figured," Cassius said, reabsorbing the clone but leaving the goo.
"Hello Megan!" Megan said, thumping her forehead. "Aqualad's memories! I knew I forgot something!"
"Robin, Kid Flash, why are you working with Void!?" Aqualad demanded. "He is a member of the League of Shadows!"
"Not anymore," Kid Flash said.
"Kaldur, you've lost six months of your memories," Robin said. "Miss Martian can restore them for you."
Aqualad stared at her for a moment before nodding. Megan reached out, resting her hand on his head for a moment as her eyes shone white, then took it back. Aqualad looked around before sighing and nodding. Cassius retracted his goo and Aqualad put his Water Bearers away.
"I am sorry for what I did," Aqualad said.
"What, the broken nose?" Cassius asked.
"And the knee, and both elbows," Aqualad said.
Cassius waved his hand dismissively. "I've had worse. Ever been shot in the pelvic hurdle?"
"No," Aqualad said.
"I don't recommend it," Cassius said. "Anyway, now that the team's got their memories back, lets go home."
Everyone nodded and they headed to the cockpit, Aqualad keeping the IV of water in his arm. Then, a moment later, they finally left the desert behind.
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